Chefs Feed the Foo Fighters on Top Chef New York

Top Chef is back and it's time for the chefs to get back into the kitchen. Last week the chefs had some failures and it was their time to make up for it. Starting off quickly it was time for the Quick Fire challenge! The guest judge this week is Grant Achatz and some of the chefs were in awe. He just battled cancer and Hosea felt a link as his father is currently battle cancer. Before Padma described the challenge each chef chose a knife at random. Random numbers were on the knifes and Padma revealed that the numbers related to a page in the Top Chef recipe book from past seasons. The chefs had to create their own twist to the recipe they received and all went to work. With about a half hour left Padma returned and changed her mind. She wanted soup now, pissing off all the chefs and sending them on a crazy ride to make soup from ingredients for another recipe.

While some of the chefs weren't too happy at first, others like Carla and Jamie felt they had it in the bag. Most had a fun time switching up their recipes and it showed as most of them were good. Ariane, of course, had the worst dish as guest judge Grant said it was overcooked. Padma really didn't say much but you could tell she didn't like it. At least she didn't spit it out this time! In the end it was down to Leah, Jamie and Danny to win the challenge. Jamie knew she would be in the top three as soups were her thing. Leah was worried though as she hated cooking with white asparagus but the judges loved it. Both Padma and Grant were surprised with Danny's dish though as it was the first ham and egg soup they've ever had. But it was good! In the end Grand choice Leah's dish the best, giving her immunity and the chance to choose her team for the Elimination Challenge.

Once again, before detailing the challenge, Padma let Leah choose her team for the Elimination Challenge. She chose: Radhika, Hosea, Stefan, Fabio, Melissa, and Jamie. They decided to name their team "Team Sexy Pants" while the other team, Jeff, Danny, Alex, Ariane, Carla, Gene and Richard, was "Team Cougar". Apparently Ariane was the cougar of the group so that's how they chose the name. Um don't they realize she is bad luck? With the teams picked Padma let the two know that cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the Foo Fighters was their task. Everyone was excited as the winning team would get to stay for the Foo Fighter concert that night. Once their shopping was done it was off to the venue and there they realized they would only be cooking with microwaves and one burner in the back parking lot. Nobody was thrilled but they had to come up with some sort of plan, and that they did.

Team Sexy Pants was pretty big headed with the challenge and that forced the team to work rather independently. While their food sounded good, their overall work ethic wasn't that amazing. Over at the Cougars it was team bonding time as Jeff pulled them all together. They left Ariane with the turkey, which was an odd choice. But it did make sense as Ariane runs a catering business and knows how to cook turkey on the fly. Gene was also able to create a home made grill from some charcoal on the ground and the Foo Fighters looked up to him for that. Half way through the cooking it began to rain, putting more pressure on the chefs. Fabio freaked out about his dish getting soggy while Jeff freaked out even more as he became a larger leader for his group. In the end both teams were able to finish their dishes and put it out just in time for the Foo Fighters to taste.

The Cougar's had the first taste from the Foo Fighters. They were able to have a great presentation when dishing their food and their dishes had mostly praises from the band. They loved the turkey and thought the mac and cheese was good. Their complaint was that they went too fancy on them and not enough traditional enough. Sexy Pant's were up next and their turkey just didn't it cut it for the guys. They did love the vegan stuffing though! It was then time for desert and both teams got a chance this time. Sexy Pants was tried first and the band loved their food. They didn't have many comments for Sexy Pants but sure did have some for the Cougars. Their deserts weren't as great. One of the Foo Fighters called the pumpkin moose a "barfait" while another said the smores looked like they had spit on them. Although the deserts weren't that great it was still pretty even for all the judges but only one team could win safety and the chance to see the show.

The decision, in the end, was left up to the Foo Fighters. They chose Team Sexy Pants for the win and they had a blast watching the concert. Down below the Cougars were cleaning up and Gene was not happy. He didn't understand why they lost and it was rather quiet as they cleaned up the mess while listening to the muffled music from above. Back at the house and in the judges table it was time to critique the Cougars. Jeff took most of the hate as he was called out for being the leader and had not one, but two bad judges. Danny also took some heat with his undercooked potatoes and Richard was called out for having "spit topped" smores. The only one to really be given any credit was Ariane who, for once, redeemed herself and finally showed she deserved to be there. In the end it was between Jeff, Danny and Richard with Richard being the one who had to pack his knifes and go. He seemed to enjoy the experience, which he tried to get on for three seasons and the preview for next week looks interesting as well. They are off to The Today Show and once again someone gets their food spit out. This time by Kathy Lee Gifford!